An ecosocialist blog

Misinformation

You may well have received the email below from, Ann Were, acting General Secretary of Wales Green Party, to all WGP members (although, to be honest, it does not read like something Ann would write – she is usually more careful with her facts).

It complains of misinformation by Plaid Cymru. I am not sure whether this is true or not – I have not seen them them claim that Wales Green Party has withdrawn candidates from the Euro elections (all I have seen them say is: “The lead Green candidate in Wales stood down in order to help Plaid win.” which is perfectly true) – but I can shed light on some misinformation contained within this Green Party communication.

Keeping things purely factual:

I was elected by the Wales Green Party membership to be lead candidate, ahead of leader Pippa Bartolotti (in this sense, at least, I was the leading member)

I urged Wales Green Party to withdraw its other candidates, but having become lead candidate through my default, Pippa Bartolotti took the opposite view and decided to greatly increase her campaigning efforts.

This whole business frustrates me intensely. The first priority of both Plaid Cymru and the Green Party has to be to overturn the prevailing neo-liberal, capitalist hegemony that we are saddled with through our current dysfunctional version of democracy. It must surely be incumbent on fellow eco-socialists to form alliances across party divides rather than obstruct and effectively defeat each other. It saddens me that I seem to get a lot more support for this vision from Plaid Cymru, and members of the Green Party in England, than I do from the narrow-minded clique that attempt to run Wales Green Party.

I am hoping that my call for Green Party supporters in Wales to back Plaid Cymru, on this occasion, will help return Jill Evans, our most experienced and best MEP, and a fellow ecosocialist. Bridgend Green Party already works closely and effectively with Bridgend Plaid Cymru, and hopefully we can see both parties be more mutually supportive and co-operative in the future.

Think for yourselves. Do as you see fit. But do so in possession of the facts of the matter.

Andy Chyba
Chair Bridgend Green Party

Begin forwarded message:

Hello AndyIt saddens me to report that Plaid Cymru is not behaving fairly during the run up to the Euro elections. They are mis-informing the electorate regarding Wales Green Party’s position and are implying that we have withdrawn our candidates in order to support theirs. This is completely untrue. We are contesting these elections in the same way as we contest most other elections – to the best that our resources will allow.Unfortunately, it is now a race against time to get the correct information out there.

Below is a model letter which we are asking for Local Parties and individual members to send to their local newspapers, in the hope that we can salvage the situation. Please don’t wait for someone else to do this; do it yourself.

Many thanks for your help and support.

Ann Were

Acting General Secretary

Wales Green Party.

Sir,

It has come to my attention that there is currently some misinformation in circulation regarding Wales Green Party and our position with respect to the forthcoming Euro elections.
I would just like to clarify the situation. The Green Party will be standing a list of candidates in Wales, as usual. We are asking for all of our supporters, both old and new, to turn out and vote for us. We do not endorse any other Party. It is simply not true that “leading members” of the Green Party are asking you to vote for anyone else. Any statements to the contrary that you may have read or heard are deliberately designed to be misleading.
In a recent ICM poll, the Green Party in Wales polled 12%, a figure which would be close to winning a seat here in Wales.
Anyone who is concerned about environmental and social justice, tired of conventional politics, and not convinced by the “business as usual” model, should vote Green Party on 22nd May.

4 thoughts on “Misinformation”

When things get complicated it’s always easy to fix by bringing things back to basics.

We get into politics because we either want or do not want something to happen. Green Party members want green policies. Who implements the policies we are usually disinterested in providing they will actually do it. If Plaid not getting in harms that, then Greens need to vote for Plaid.

We support hordes of eco-socialists and green collectives around the globe that are in no way affiliated with the Wales Green Party, so this should be a no brainer.

Of course, as always, read the fine print and look into candidate’s track record but remember to think green first, Green Party second.

How can you expect us to vote Plaid after they attempted to introduce a badger cull into North Pembs. They are not to be trusted again until they disown Elin Jones and apologise for their shameful betrayal of our wildlife

That is a fair enough point. They are not perfect, but they are a damn sight nearer perfect than the alternative of letting Labour, or even (and conceivably) UKIP nicking Jill Evans seat. Jill Evans is an excellent ecosocialist and an experienced and valued member of the Green/EFA group in the European Parliament. The Greens also have members that we would wish to disown as well.